NHL suspends Hagelin, Carkner

Postmedia News04.15.2012

Daniel Alfredsson #11 of the Ottawa Senators lays on the ice following an elbow from Carl Hagelin #62 of the New York Rangers that resulted in a major penalty in Game Two of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2012 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Madison Square Garden on April 14, 2012 in New York City.

New York Rangers forward Carl Hagelin and Ottawa Senators defenceman Matt Carkner have been suspended for separate incidents in Saturday’s playoff game between the two clubs.

Hagelin was handed a three-game ban for his elbow to the head of Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson during Game 2 of the teams’ Eastern Conference quarter-final, while Carkner was given a one-game suspension for jumping the Rangers’ Brian Boyle.

Hagelin received a major penalty for elbowing on the hit, which occurred midway through the second period of the Senators’ 3-2 overtime victory in New York. Alfredsson left the game and did not return. His status for Game 3 of the series Monday night in Ottawa is unclear.

NHL disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan said Sunday that Hagelin deserved the punishment for “recklessly striking Alfredsson in the side of the head.”

In settling on the three-game ban, Shanahan said he took into account that Alfredsson was injured on the play and that Hagelin has no previous record of supplementary discipline.

Carkner, meanwhile, landed a series of punches to Boyle, who angered the Senators in Game 1 for what they deemed to be liberties taken against young defenceman Erik Karlsson.

Carkner earned the punishment for being the aggressor in the incident and for “continuing to inflict punishment upon an opponent who was an unwilling combatant,” the NHL said in a news release.

The incident, which took place two minutes into the first period, earned Carkner a minor penalty for instigating, a major penalty for fighting and a game misconduct. He punched Boyle twice in the face, knocking Boyle to the ice, then landed another five blows.

“While we understand any player’s desire to protect a teammate,” Shanahan said, “Carkner is excessive in his approach.”

Shanahan settled on the one-game suspension after taking into consideration that Carkner has a previous record of being an aggressor in a similar altercation in 2009 and that Boyle was not injured and remained in the game.

Next up for Shanahan is a meeting with Chicago Blackhawks winger Andrew Shaw, who ran Phoenix Coyotes goalie Mike Smith in Game 2 of that Western Conference quarter-final on Saturday, and likely the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Arron Asham, who cross-checked the Philadelphia Flyers’ Brayden Schenn during a bitter Game 3 on Sunday won by the Flyers 8-4.

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